3 Aug 2013

The Tory Minister responsible for
fracking has conjured up a chilling image of swathes of rural England
shaking with the sound of drills as a result of the drive for shale gas.Referring
to people living in the countryside who have supported fracking, Energy
Minister Michael Fallon said at a private meeting in Westminster: ‘We
are going to see how thick their rectory walls are, whether they like
the flaring at the end of the drive!’His
unguarded comments follow angry protests in Balcombe, Sussex, last week
in the first clashes between police and anti-fracking protesters.And
they are in stark contrast to a public statement Mr Fallon made last
week when he said claims that fracking will ruin the countryside were
‘nonsense’.Mr Fallon is a
huge enthusiast for fracking, arguing it offers the promise of lower
energy bills and millions of pounds in compensation for local
communities.But in the
private briefing, he candidly admitted that prosperous homeowners who
find fracking on their doorstep in the Tories’ Middle England
heartlands could be in for a shock.Mr
Fallon, MP for Sevenoaks in Kent, said that exploratory studies for
fracking were already poised to start in the North of England and are
set to spread the length and breadth of southern England.He
said: ‘The second area being studied is the Weald. It’s from Dorset all
the way along through Hampshire, Sussex, East Sussex, West Sussex, all
the way perhaps a bit into Surrey and even into my county of Kent. It’s
right there.’

He then referred provocatively
to support for fracking among what he called the ‘commentariat’ –
meaning opinion formers who live in the South East.‘The beauty of that – please don’t write this down – is that of course it’s underneath the commentariat.‘All
these people writing leaders saying “why don’t they get on with shale?”
– we are going to see how thick their rectory walls are, whether they
like the flaring at the end of the drive!’

Historic: The rectory owned by David Cameron's father, and where he was bought up

A test drilling site for shale gas near Banks on the outskirts of Southport, Lancashire

Fracking experts have already
admitted that the practice could result in flares several feet high as
leaked gas is burned off rather than being allowed to leak into the
atmosphere.Mr Fallon did
not specify to whom his comments referred, but it is thought he meant
writer and commentator Charles Moore, biographer of Margaret Thatcher,
who lives in a £1.5 million rectory in Etchingham, Sussex, and backs
shale gas extraction.

MINISTER'S EXPLOSIVE OUTBURST

'The
second area being studied is the Weald. It’s from Dorset all the way
along through Hampshire, Sussex, East Sussex, West Sussex, all the way
perhaps a bit into Surrey and even into my county of Kent. It’s right
there.‘The beauty of that – please don’t write this down – is that of course it’s underneath the commentariat.‘All
these people writing leaders saying “why don’t they get on with shale?”
– we are going to see how thick their rectory walls are, whether they
like the flaring at the end of the drive!'That's where the second great belt of shale is.'

It is 35 miles from Balcombe. Mr Moore is also chairman of the The Rectory Society, which seeks to protect old rectories.Ironically, David Cameron was brought up in a rectory in Berkshire that belonged to his father.Mr
Moore wrote last month that shale gas is ‘a great advance’ though it
was ‘lucky’ that much was in the North where there were ‘not many spoilt
rich people to complain’.But
he added that there was said to be ‘lots more under the Sussex Weald
where I live’ and he faced having to be ‘true to my beliefs’.Only
last week, Mr Fallon – who lives in a manor house near Sevenoaks –
swept aside environmental objections to developing shale gas.‘Claims
that exploration involves ruining the countryside are nonsense,’ he
said. ‘A typical shale gas pad is expected to be little larger than a
cricket ground.’He said he
had visited a conventional drilling site ‘tucked away in the South
Downs National Park, which shows how oil and gas operations can work
even in the most sensitive environment’.Mr
Fallon conceded that there was bound to be ‘some disruption’ but said
this could be overcome with compensation of £100,000 for each
exploratory well site.Fracking would only be allowed if it was safe and did not damage the environment.He
said that in the US, where fracking is well advanced, ‘there is no
evidence of fracking causing any groundwater contamination.’